Wednesday, April 1, 2015

OF COURSE TRADITIONAL OR ORTHODOX CATHOLICS NEVER ASSIST THE POOR AND NEVER STRIVE TO BE A CHURCH OF AND FOR THE POOR

Long before Pope Francis was calling for Catholics to be concerned about the periphery, and long before yours truly became pastor of St. Joseph Church in Macon, the Catholic community in Macon has gone to the peripheries to assist the poor.

Family Advancement Ministries, a deanery/diocesan ministry began as SERVE and now assist parents with young children especially with educational programs to keep their heads above water but also with material help.

Our St. Vincent de Paul Society acts as this society traditionally functions in parishes and cares for the needs of the poor by home visitation and an evaluation of what it can do to assist.

Daybreak is a DePaul USA ministry staffed by Sister Elizabeth Grim, DC and other DC sisters and lay staff. The Catholic Church in Macon plays a large role in this day shelter for the homeless that provides them with countless services.

The above video is produced by the Macon Telegraph who two years ago name Sister Elizabeth, Macon's Woman of the Year.This is the article that will appear in the Telegraphy tomorrow already on-line today and written by our parishioner Liz Fabian:

lfabian@macon.com The
success of Macon’s Daybreak center for the homeless has spread to Little
Rock, Arkansas, but will mean the departure of Sister Elizabeth Greim.April 1, 2015

The Catholic Daughter of Charity announced her plans to move
shortly after 8:30 a.m. Wednesday while folks were eating breakfast at
the center on Walnut Street.
“Don’t do it,” one person yelled out.

As
Greim asked for prayers in her new misson, another person said: “We’ll
pray for you, but Daybreak is going to be messed up, sure enough.”

“No,
Daybreak is going to be fine, because Daybreak is all of you,” Greim
reassured them. It’s not just about one person, it’s about all of us
together and that’s what we bring to Little Rock.”
Greim likely
will be leaving Macon in July after a period of traveling every two
weeks between the two cities as executive director of both centers.

“This
was a nice deal for me,” said Greim, who plans to keep ties she
developed in Macon. “I won’t live there, but will still have the
connection to the work because we designed it.”
Greim could have
been sent farther away to assist in a different ministry that would not
have facilitated trips back to Macon, she said.

Still the news hit hard for some of the men and women whose lives she changed.

“She
has brought love and nurturing and kindness and gentleness and a fierce
spirit about her that brings us all together and brings this place
together, in which we call Daybreak,” Scotty Nelson said.

“It’s a
fabulous place and it’s worked out very well for everyone here,” said
Scotty Nelson.
Daybreak sees nearly 1,500 clients annually and has helped move 50 people to permanent housing each year.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but we helped facilitate a very long process,” Greim said.
Looking
around at the renovated warehouse near the entrance to Central City
Park, it is hard for her to remember sweeping the dusty floors a little
more than three years ago.

The homeless now have access to showers, laundry, telephones and medical care in the building.
Greim, The Telegraph’s 2013 Person of the Year, spent the past decade championing the poor, disadvantaged and exploited.

She
ran Family Advancement Ministries, helped organize the ecumenical
“Bless These Hands” to boost the lives of women across the world, led an
effort against sex trafficking that became Middle

Georgia Alliance to
End Regional Trafficking, helped with the food pantry at St. Peter
Claver Catholic Church and developed Daybreak.

The city of Little
Rock had been operating a day center for homeless since 2013, but
relinquished control Monday to DePaul U.S.A., the same Catholic service
organization that oversees Macon’s center.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola traveled to Macon more than a year ago and spent an hour talking to clients at Daybreak.

Greim has been traveling to Little Rock to help with the transition, but only found out last week she would be moving.

“People
in Macon need to understand she’ll still be connected to Macon,” said
Kay Gerhardt, of Macon, who is the chairperson of the DePaul U.S.A.
board.

“She’s touched so many people in so many ways and she just has a manner about her that she draws people in.”

Gerhardt
is particular impressed by Greim’s ability to bring people together
from all walks of life - something Greim will help foster in Little
Rock.

“She just has this magic about her,” Gerhardt said.
Clients Thomas Brewer and Joshua Pike feel like they are losing a member of the family.

“She’s
kept me out of trouble. Helped me find places to live and get food and
clothes and she is a very loving person,” Brewer said.

3 comments:

Daniel
said...

Aren't we going to make fun of her outfit? No? OK.But serious, people like Sister Elizabeth who roll up their sleeves to feed and house and care for the least among us truly live their faith. We need about a million more like her.

Why would we make fun of her outfit. She has consistently represented herself as a simple and modest nun. She is always ready and able to get to work and always shows the joy that Pope Francis calls for. Her sisters on the other hand sometimes resemble the old maids of Pope Francis.A million might be nice, but she is one of a kind

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”The views expressed on this
social network are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.” Comments that I post do not necessarily reflect my views or the views of the Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah.
I am a priest of the Diocese of Savannah ordained in 1980 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. I am currently the pastor of Saint Anne Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia. I am the former Director of Vocations from 1986 to 1998 and former Director of Liturgy and Diocesan Master of Ceremonies from 1985 to 1991.